Searching for Multiple Targets Simultaneously: Is it Really Possible?

Abstract

In an attempt to clarify the findings of Neisser and his associates with respect to parallel processing of multiple target items in a visual search task, subjects were tested in a multiple-target search situation in which the various target sets were not nested. 20 sessions were run for each subject with 12 trials per day. The targets used were geometric forms, allowing for manipulation of the number of features in each form. The results do not confirm those of Neisser, in fact, the interaction of session × target-set size was in a direction opposite to that predicted by a parallel scan model. These findings indicate that what Neisser reported as parallel preattentive processing may in fact have reflected a tendency for subjects to scan for a master set of targets, regardless of which subset of that set was actually present on a given set.